InFamous
by Tamykana37
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke, the perfect agent under the Konoha Shinobi gets caught in a mission and taken to the land of sound. Suspecting an inside job, he can trust no one now, and has no place to call home. Maybe the long lost daughter of his father's eternal rival can build him a new one. [Sasuhina spy!AU]
1. Chapter 1

**Otogakure, the land of Sound **

Beep. Beep. Beep.

_What's that?_

"His heart rate is picking up"

_Who's that?_

"He must be finally regaining consciousness"

_Who?_

"What do we do, Doctor?"

_Doctor?_

"Give him a sedative, at least we know he's recovering, but we can't let him wake up before she comes"

_She?_

"It's picking up even more!"

_What's happening?!_

"External stimulus must be assaulting his senses after the coma; he's going into a panic"

_Coma? Whose coma?!_

"Just sedate him, it will be fine"

_What's going on?_

_Who are you?_

_Explain!_

_What's…_

_Wha…_

_Plea…_

_Hel…_

* * *

The rhythmic clicking of high heels echoed out of place in the long hallway where the light hurried steps of flat shoes were usually the norm. The reverberating beat of the firm steps was almost foreboding in the empty hall of the Intensive Care Unit in the Otogakure private hospital as a woman – that much was obvious – made her way without hesitation towards room 5032, led by a dainty nurse whose light stride was but a quiet pat pat pat only accentuated the edge of the loudly clicking heels.

"It's in here, Miss Fūma" spoke the nurse, head down as she stood in front of the closed door, leaving room for the only slightly older woman to enter first.

The door opened without a need to knock. Those inside had heard the heels too, approaching from a distance.

"Miss Fūma, my pleasure" the doctor greeted, going unacknowledged.

"You said he had awakened" she reminded; eyes fixed in the frail looking body of Uchiha Sasuke. Thinner and paler after 5 long months of uninterrupted sleep, an injury induced comatose.

"We put him back under, so you could talk to him first thing" explained the doctor.

"What's his status?" the woman questioned, red tinted lips pursed in concentration as she walked around the hospital bed, short steps restrained by a form hugging pencil skirt. But she was in no hurry.

"Beyond stable" the doctor answered vaguely. It was a glare rather than a verbal order what told him to elaborate "The coma did him good, his body had all the rest it needed and now he's fully healed, and some physical therapy will get him back to full potential in no time" he said almost too excitedly.

"Full… potential?" she asked, bangs hiding the questioning raise of her slick brows.

"Well… you know" he hinted vaguely.

"No, Doctor, I don't think I know" she pushed with sarcasm.

"As a… special agent" he said with some hesitancy, noting how the woman directed the subtlest of looks to the nurse "C'mon Miss, with looks like that, he can hardly go sneakily under cover. We all know who Uchiha Sasuke is, what he _does_" he spoke cockily.

"Nurse…" the woman stopped a second to look at the name displayed on the badge attached to the nurse's bust "Lee, would you give us a moment?" she asked, almost too politely, a stark contrast to the icy gaze fixed on the big mouthed doctor.

"Not a problem" was all the nurse said before walking to the door, lightly closing it behind her.

"Do you have an idea of what's at stake here? The things you're saying so freely are classified" she chastised with gritted teeth.

"I di-"

The door opened again, nurse Lee walked back in.

She had a gun.

Bang.

Well… no, not _bang_.

How does one describe the sound that a bullet makes when fired from a gun with a silencer on it?

It's an odd one. But the sound of the small metal ball piercing bone and flesh is always the same. A clean shot to the back of the head and Miss Kotohime Fūma was no more.

Exit wound in the middle of the forehead, could have gotten Holstein too, but the angle wasn't quite right. No. It was the second shot that did it.

"Didn't even put a guard outside the door. Made it easier than it should have been" she spoke in a tone so different from the submissive voice that spoke that short phrase to the lady now laying on the cold marble floor. Blood was beginning to pool.

"I knew I'd heard that voice somewhere" the raspy, unused but unforgettable voice of the youngest Uchiha rang low from his post in the bed.

"So you really are awake. Guess I got the dose right" the obviously-not-really-a-nurse said, sounding mildly surprised, proud even.

"And you just counted on me to play dead without any indication of your plan. Or that there was a plan to begin with?" he complained with a glare.

"Well, it worked" the woman dead-panned, putting her gun away into the waistband of her uniform skirt.

"Not quite. How are we getting out of here? I can't walk" he reminded.

"Like I'd bother myself with an invalid" she huffed "I've been stretching, massaging and electroshocking your limbs daily, your muscles aren't atrophied so badly that you can't walk, you'd just be clumsy for a while, getting used to it" she explained while busying herself with preparing what looked like spy gear out of a James Bond movie, pulling a hook gun out of a place where something of that size shouldn't have fit. But impossible isn't a word in the vocabulary of the Konohagakure shinobi.

A privately founded, Fire country-based agency dedicated to weapons research, asset training, high level espionage, and more, oh so much more, at the convenience of those willing to pay the fee.

"Now get up and let's go, you go down first" the woman instructed, securing the end of the rope after firing the hook, making sure it stuck strong enough for their weight. They were on a timer, people would of course notice the obvious rope going from a window in the second floor to the parking lot, and they were sure to not miss the young man dressed in a hospital gown going down it.

While the nurse readied their escape route, Sasuke tested the mobility of his muscles, numb and tingly, but movable enough. Assessing his surroundings with practiced quickness, he opted for the doctor's clothing minus the robe, changing as fast as his semi-sedated state and weary muscles allowed.

They were on a timer. Sasuke was only halfway down when "Lee" was prepared to go down herself.

The rope untensed. Sasuke was close enough to the ground that the short fall didn't hurt.

But why was it untensed? With Agent Yamanaka's added weight, it should have instead just tensed further.

"Did she not secure it well? That idiot" the sickly man murmured, turning behind him.

Clean shot to the back of the head. Exit wound in the middle of the forehead.

Yamanaka Ino's forehead.

Sasuke knew better than to freeze in shock. He had to run.


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter has been re-uploaded due to html errors in the original version. For that I apologize and thank you for bringing it to my attention. Also I would like you to know that there is new content !

**CHAPTER 2**

It was the middle of the day, roughly. She could tell by the intensity of the heat and perceive the bright light. The plaza was busy as it always is, with merchants shouting out what they offer, claiming the best price and ideal freshness. Those claims were lies most of the times, she knew, as she could not be fooled by the vibrant colors or apparently ripe fruits and vegetables. Her acute sense of smell and soft sensitive hands could "see" through the visuals that so easily deceive the eyes.

The loudness of the Plaza was jarring to her poor ears, but as someone who lives alone, Hinata had no way to avoid the weekly visits, as her preference for organic foods prevent her from grocery shopping any less often.

The shades she wore to hide her white unseeing eyes made her condition even more obvious, so strangers would often offer her help moving around in crowded places like those, but not today. Perhaps her new sunglasses are too stylish and look like more of a fashion choice than a need, or maybe the sun is so bright that she isn't the only one shading her eyes.

Whatever it may be, today she is left alone to wonder around, without her stick and no dog to guide her around. She knows the way by heart, but unexpected obstacles don't make themselves wait. Sixteen small steps ago – yes, she counts – she tripped slightly on a cat that crossed her path, now, she runs into a chest.

"Fuck, sorry" the hard chest curses and apologizes with clear hurry, so she smiles her mute forgiveness and moves out of the man's way "Hanabi?" she hears the low voice speak a second time, a word she knows but never hears, posed as a confused question.

Strong hands grab the side of her face with no regard to her personal space. At this, she flinches away with not enough strength to free her head of his uncomfortable albeit harmless grasp.

Hinata feels the strange man's eyes analyze her, unnerving her. She then feels one of his hands release her only to yank away her shade. Her eyes open on instinct and a gut feeling tells her that their eyes have locked together. Well, instinct and the fact that he has her head held in place, inches away from his own, she could hardly be looking off into the wrong direction.

The connection lasts only seconds before he lets go as if burned by the flushed skin of her cheeks.

"Sorry, you reminded me of somebody" he explains what she had already concluded, sounding far from apologetic. And even if his hands have left her, his body remains close and neither makes a move to take a step back.

As part of the Konoha Shinobi for 5 of his 24 years long life, Uchiha Sasuke knows many things. One of them is that trust is a precious thing not easily given. This short pale woman – beautiful if he could spare the thought – that so strongly resembles that annoying brat that is Hyuga Hiashi's only living child, is not someone he trusts.

But standing alone in the enemy's territory with no way to contact Konoha or even the certainty that he should, there is no one he trusts.

But the guard that shot out Ino is hot on his trail, the crowd can shield him only temporarily, but he can't run forever. With as few options as he has, this petite and blind – perhaps also mute – woman, appears the most harmless.

So, with his hearing tuned to the heavy rushing steps of the guard's combat boots, his face dives down.

His hair lacks any semblance of style, his clothing is generic. His handsome face is one of a kind.

And to hide his face, he dives down, joining their lips in a kiss.

Soft.

It was the only word that came to mind, as half his attention was directed to his persecutor passing behind him, when his full focus should have been there.

But the feel of the woman's full lips was distracting, even to him, who admits no distractions during his job. It was pleasing in a way he hadn't anticipated, just a means to an end he'd thought, but even after his persecutor had passed them and he was on the clear, he wasn't pulling away.

As for her, the sensation was more than unexpected, it was entirely new and as frightening as it was pleasurable, but the urge to pull away, to run and hide, stayed at bay in favor of other startling urges that surfaced.

Hinata knew love. She had loved in her youth - although it could be argued that 22 is still young - and was acquainted with the stomach butterflies. This feeling, however, was no butterfly, it was heat.

Something warm and insistent was pooling in the pit of her stomach, something she had read about in books she'd sheepishly lie about even knowing existed.

She has always been a shy little thing. Compliant and submissive, always so kind and generous. But it wasn't her submissiveness that kept her lips glued to those of a stranger, clumsily following his slow pace. No, is not that she didn't have the backbone to push him and say "no".

Is that she doesn't want to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hey! you two!" A loud shrieking voice yells from a short distance, bringing the pair back to reality, and only then do they pull apart "This isn't the place for displays like that! There's children around!" The woman who he now sees is a middle aged lady, chastised angrily.

Sasuke isn't one to apologise for things he doesn't regret, so he merely shrugs and places a hand as gentle and unthreatening as a seasoned killer can manage, on the girl's back, leading the stunned blushing woman away from the yelling lady.

The girl moves along, unsure of how to react, but visibly hesitant.

"I'm sorry" he says, faking as much remorse as he can muster "I'm… in a bit of trouble. There was someone chasing me and I had to think of a way to hide my identity quick" he explained with little detail, and while still apprehensive, the blind girl nods her understanding "I'm sorry I had to do something so inappropriate, I didn't think it through. I hope you can forgive me" he offers in an apologetic manner so unlike him, he almost pats his own back for the stellar performance.

_I hope you can forgive me_ is as close to groveling as a prideful Uchiha could ever get, but if he's going to survive in enemy territory long enough to figure out a safe way back home, he needs an ally.

"I know I didn't give you the best first impression, and have no right to ask any more of you than what I have already forcefully taken, but… could you help me?" He ventures to ask the still blushing woman whose eyes are glued to the street - not that it matters - betraying her shyness.

Sasuke very well knows the effect his handsome looks have on women, but those effects are lost on this woman which makes her perhaps a terrible choice. Any other would have jumped at the suggestion, but this blind Hanabi look-alike has no inclination to help him. If anything, he has given her good reason _not _to.

But even if she can't see him, she felt him, and the response he got from her was far from angry rejection. Her lips had moved against his with testing curiosity, shy and slow and dare he say _inviting._

He'll admit - only within the privacy of his thoughts - that he knew all danger had passed and continued anyway, took it farther than an unmoving press of lips. And he did so, because he wanted to. The softness of her, the warmth, the tentative movement. It had enticed him in ways that he had only been enticed by the most explicit of sexual acts.

There was a twisted pleasure that awoke from knowing that he'd melted this woman's instinctive reserve with a simple press if his lips. She didn't know of his reputation, hadn't seen his face, he hadn't sweet talked her or the likes.

He just kissed her, and she just followed. And he doesn't understand why the blindness of her trust (no pun intended) and genuineness of her want for him based on feeling alone, made him tingle.

"So, will you help me?" he asks again after several steps taken in silence with no particular destination in mind. His hand remains at the small of her back, leading her along with no resistance.

At last, and with her lip trapped between perfect white teeth in a show of nervousness, she nods. She wraps small hands around his right arm, meaning to lead the way wordlessly, requiring concentration to count her steps.

He follows her lead and walks in silence, chancing quick looks her way. He would look away despite of knowing he wouldn't be caught even if he stared shamelessly. But in that assumption he was mistaken, she could feel his gaze on her, and the heat of it ignited her self-conscious blush even more.

After the short walk they arrive at what he assumes to be her house, happy to discover that she lives alone by the presence of only one bedroom. That, or she has a significant other that she shares the room with, but he doubts it.

The accommodation is humble, conveniently small and purposely bare of any random decorations that could pose as obstacles.

He sees a walking stick beside the door and wonders only briefly why the girl left her house without it. The next thing that catches his attention is the light bulb installed in the ceiling, concluding that it must have come with the house - probably a rental - and there was no reason to go through the trouble of removing it.

"I only need a place to stay while I figure out a way to travel back to where I belong" he tells her, much more confident now that she has invited him into her house. He is still polite, but less so now that he is sure she won't deny him anything. And as expected, she nods.

So naive and incredibly trusting.

He could just end her right now.

_No._

Sasuke opens his eyes wide with shock, not at the thought but at the quickness with which it was abandoned.

Such an easy kill, no one would know but himself. He could use her house and supplies, any hidden money if there's any. He'd just have to choke her, nothing too painful, a swift death like he has delivered many.

Does he have a conscience now? A righteous voice in the back of his head telling him how wrong it would be to kill someone already blind and mute. Not even his father was that heartless.

Actually no, yes he is. He is so much worse.

But he has never been one for compassion, he can't be, or else he would suck at his job, if he were to forgive every target out of pity. But she isn't a target, far from it, he was lucky to bump into the single most harmless person in all of Oto.

His face is inconveniently recognizable, and he manages to run into someone who can't tell it's him, and can't communicate with others if she ever did.

It's almost too perfect, and the shinobi inside becomes sceptical. Maybe she isn't really blind, maybe she is related to the Hyuga's in some way, like her features would seem to suggest. Maybe she is out to get him.

And maybe she isn't alone.

With the sliver of attention that he is keeping on her, he notices how she makes a motion inviting him to sit down in the old couch, he does so without even a word of thanks, letting the noise it makes be the indication of his action.

On the inside, his mind reels with discontinued snaps of his capture. It was long ago, but still fresh in his mind.

The mission had been a retrieval. Something of great value had been stolen and only three trusted agents of high skills had been deployed to get it back from an organized crime group of Otogakure.

Sakura Haruno was the brains on the team, Naruto was the heart, he was the well trained, undefeatable body. They worked in almost perfect balance and had never failed a mission. Ever.

But scroll 45HB3 was a set up.

It had to be.

Sakura is meticulous with her preparations, never misses a thing, yet there were paths inside the building they had entered that she hadn't known of. Locks rigged to set off an alarm when what they had been told was the access code, was entered.

All lies. They were cornered, outnumbered and outsmarted.

Sasuke would bet his last name that it had been an inside job. And he'd been the explicit target.

He has no way to check on the status of his teammates without giving away this miraculously secure location to precisely the insiders that he now doubts can be trusted.

And if he can't trust the people he has worked with for years. What fool would trust _her?_

The girl comes back after a short absence carrying a plastic cup of water for him. Could it be poisoned?

He won't stay seated to find out.

With the swiftness ingrained in his muscles, he dashes. The water spills on the floor, wetting her clothes only slightly. A simple traditional yukata.

He has her in a choke hold in one quick and precise move, then he hears her scream. The shock almost caused him to release her, but he kept his hold, turning her back to him and applying painful pressure on her neck.

"Who are you?" He demanded sternly. She answers with unintelligible whimpers of clear discomfort.

"Answer me!" He yells impatiently. More whimpers and gasps for air. There's nothing wrong with her vocal chords if the scream was anything to go by, but perhaps her linguistic ability is impeded by other factors.

He placed his hands on opposite side of her head, ready to perform a move ingrained in his muscle memory. The swiftest and most painless death he could provide, but when a tear touched his finger, his muscles locked, they wouldn't move.

He couldn't do it.

He re-positioned his hands quickly, covering her mouth and nose, choking her. her arms and legs flailed around with desperation, only shortening her already laborious breath.

"I'm sorry" Uchiha Sasuke wasn't one to apologize for things he didn't regret, but when he felt her weight release completely on his arms, limp and unconscious, he felt like he had to. Like he'd done wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

An untold number of hours later, Hinata woke up to the darkness she was long used to, but this time it wasn't her injured optic nerve to blame, it was a cloth covering her eyes, coarse and tied tightly and uncaringly in the back of her head, as were her wrists behind the chair she was sitting on. Her mouth too was covered, showing just how cautious the man was being despite all her apparent disabilities. He doesn't trust her.

Her acute sense of hearing catches his slow pacing around the room, despite his expertly quiet steps telltale of a man well trained in stealth. She made no sound to warn him of her awakening, but all of his attention had been trained on her and the slight movements she made as she woke told him she had regained consciousness and what was more, she was trying to hide the fact.

_What is she planning?_ He thought to himself, frowning. He wouldn't give her even the chance to devise a plan to catch him off guard, he decided.

"You're awake" he let her know straight away, her muffled gasp put a grin on his face. _She was hoping I wouldn't notice._ "I am going to ask some yes or no questions, and If you know what's good for you, you will answer with the truth" he threatens with a cold glare that he knows is lost on her blinded self, but would freeze any enemy he directs it to.

Her trepidation is palpable in the shake of her entire body and the sweat gathering at her hair line, but still, she manages a shy nod.

"You are allied with Konoha" he stated, not questioned. She shakily moved her head from one side to the other. No.

"But you lived there at one point. The resemblance is too much, you must be related to the Hyugas. I won't believe it even if you say no" he dissuaded with severity.

She raised her head in shock and fear, blindly searching for his position guided by the sound of his voice. After a moment of silence, with shame she nodded.

"Are you… Hyuga Hinata?" he dares ask. I wasn't a hard conclusion to come to, her eyes were those of a Hyuga, no doubt about it, and he had even confused her with Hanabi so the blood connection must be tight. She nodded.

"Then how are you alive and why are you here?!" he yells, causing her to flinch as she realizes he is standing much too close now. Angrily he pulls down her gag, demanding a verbal answer from her.

She can talk, he knows she can talk, he had known her only by name during his childhood and never was her muteness mentioned. He knows the tragic story of her kidnapping at the tender age of 7, the culprit had been traced back to Oto, but even after the hefty ransom had been paid against the advice of the shinobi organization, the eldest daughter of Hiashi Hyuga was never returned.

Her demise had been presumed, never confirmed, but it still made no sense for her to be wandering the streets of Oto as though she were one more of its citizens. Was she let go? Did she escape? How does a blind woman escape professional criminals? There were too many questions and if he couldn't get this pretend mute to talk, they would be left unanswered.

"Explain. Now!" he demands harshly, adding to her trepidation. Soon, tears begin to soak her blindfold and one manages to sneak in what little room there is to the side of her nose between the rag and her skin. Sasuke sees the tear, but he couldn't care less.

"Hyuga Hinata wasn't mute, you can talk, and you _will_ talk before I make you" he threatens in a much calmer tone, but the menace in his voice is obvious. She keeps quite still, gasps and sobs leaving her lips even as she bites them, but no words spill out of the reddening mouth.

Through her sobbing that increases in volumes he almost, ALMOST misses the sound of the front door being opened. She heard it too and as if in slow motion, he watched her mouth form a vowel. Thoughts were running inside his brain. An ambush?

If they were armed, he was doomed. He did not have all his strength back, they knew the place, and if she cried out, he would no longer have the element of surprise on his favor. He could take her as a hostage, but there was no guarantee that she was of any value to the ambusher, they might even shoot through her to get to him, uncaring.

He was running out of options, too keenly aware of his temporary physical inferiority a lesser man would have panicked. He didn't freeze up in panic, he stood in calm, acknowledging that all the cards had been dealt against him. The new question being: Did they want him dead or alive?

Stupid question. They had kept him alive and healed him the first time, they wouldn't throw away all that effort now. Hinata screamed, the steps went from normal to a panicked jog, drawing closer. A single man.

And whoever that man was, had been ordered not to kill him. That was his card.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The door to the humble bedroom was made of decidedly old wood, even if thick, time had done its trick and Sasuke wasn't relying on it to remain locked through a grown man's well-placed kick. As expected, it broke, and in came a muscular guy, older than him but not too much, pointedly tall with tan skin and shocking orange hair, cut short on the sides and spiky on top.

From his position behind his hostage the handsome spy was far enough to be safe from an unarmed man, which the newcomer surprisingly was. His mind raced, reevaluating his situation after this new information. The man looked confused, so he couldn't have been actively coming to get him and him being unarmed was clue enough that he didn't belong to his search party. That doesn't automatically rule him out as a threat, but it means his presence in Hinata's house has nothing to do with catching him… and everything to do with Hinata.

"What the… Hime!" the man calls out in shock as he kicks down the door. The red gaze would shift between the two of them, softening at the sight of the frightened woman, hardening when meeting Sasuke's own cold unbetraying glare.

"Who are you?" the man takes a guarded stance, looking like he'll lunge at him at any moment. Sasuke answers him with an annoyed grunt and silence, managing his own center of gravity, ready to bolt at the slightest sign of attack.

"Who are you?!" he insists angrily and the handsome Konohan native has a choice to make. He can put Hinata in a chokehold and use her as leverage or put his hands up in surrender and step away, assuring the other that he means no harm to the woman. _No harm… yeah right_. Even if he steps away now, the girl's blindfolded and tied to a chair, if he were in the tall man's place, he wouldn't buy his peace-keeping bluff.

A step forward is taken, and the raven moves in automatic response, his hands take their position with practiced speed, familiar with exactly where they should go in preparation for a neck twist instant kill.

"One more step, I dare you" he announces menacingly, not needing to say anymore to express exactly how little it would matter to him to end the life of the defenseless woman with his bare hands.

Evident dread colors the tan face in pasty tones, his stance retracting in the instant.

"Who are you?" he insists in a much quieter volume, a mockery of calm in his distressed state.

"Do you see yourself in a position to demand anything?" is the taunting question he gets for an answer. The giant bites his lip in frustration, holding all the things he wants to yell at the intruder, choosing to cooperate.

"We don't have much, but I'll give you whatever you want, please let her go" he begs in a tone so defeated, his alliance to the blind woman is proven sentimental in nature.

"Whatever I want? How about an explanation?" he speaks with disdain "Who are _you_?".

"My name is Juugo, I'm just a blacksmith. Hime… she's blind and suffers selective mutism, she works for an apothecary. Like I said, we don't have much to offer you" he explains, unavoidably nervous, but seemingly truthful. The strong build of the man ads up, and Sasuke dares assume that a blind woman's enhanced sense of smell would make up for her lack of sight if her field of work in primarily dealing with herbs and concoctions. What caught his attention was the middle of that sentence.

"Selective?" He asks calmly while keeping his ready stance, not letting his guard down.

"It's from some childhood trauma, I don't know the full story" he says, and it was hard to read the body language of a man with an obvious reason to be tense and sweaty, but the side shift of his gaze was telltale.

"You're lying" he announces, toneless.

"I'm not!" the man defends.

"You _do_ know what happened to her. Is keeping that secret worth watching her die?" The youngest Uchiha asks, his voice betraying no emotion; not the flash of a consciousness that came with the realization that in his paranoia he had been mistreating what was essentially an innocent bystander who had very kindly lend him a helping hand and was to top it off, an invalid with PTSD.

Except Hyuga Hinata isn't just some random passerby. He can't kill Hiashi's legitimate heir then go back to Konoha and expect not to be executed.

The wealthy are untouchable because of their ties to the powerful, the powerful owe their power to the leverage of the wealthy. In that equation, the Hyuga family were the wealthy… the Uchihas were the powerful. A relationship were loyalties were purely based on mutual benefit, became tense once political tides shifted, public opinion pushed the Uchiha legacy into a corner where they were no longer as helpful to the business tycoon as it was the other way around.

Recognizing the shaky ground that they stood on, Sasuke's father made a bold move: Betrothing his eldest son to Hiashi's eldest daughter.

Anyone aware of the ins and outs of politics in the fire country knows the kidnapping of young Hinata was a ploy to stop Fugaku Uchiha from cementing such a strong alliance. But even knowing who to blame, there was no proof to convict with, and no way to get her back. The hired gang that cashed the ransom wasn't caught, and the real big players behind it couldn't be as openly pointed out. The Hyuga withdrew their support starting a domino effect that caused Uchiha's political party to lose the majority to the opposition, and both patriarchs have despised each other passionately ever since.

If Uchiha Sasuke, of all people, lays a single hand on the precious first born of the Hyuga patriarch, he will be as well as dead. He realizes this with his hands still posed strategically on her head, ready to snap her neck.

"Whoever you ask, that is none of your business" the man answers with a frown, gathering enough courage to draw that line, albeit cautiously, he daren't raise his voice against a man holding such precious hostage, even if said man was bluffing.

It was then that a particularly loud sound of frustrated despair left the plump pink lips of the blind woman, who up until that point had been whimpering and sobbing as any hostage scared for their lives would. But this sound specifically was loud enough that it implied a call for attention.

"You have something to say?" He mocked, always the skilled actor. He hadn't gotten as high as he was in the shinobi ranks by letting his emotions control his thoughts, or his thoughts show on his face.

The shinobi organization… just the thought of it brought up a discontent growl that he managed to catch in his throat before release. Who set him up? Why was he healed and kept alive? What happened to his team-mates? And what are the fucking odds that while running from all of that, he stumbles into none other than his brother's presumed dead fiancé?

That's too much of a coincidence, there is simply no way. As innocent as she looks, this tear-stricken porcelain mess, has to be related to his capture somehow, and he's going to get to the bottom of it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Panic.

_What do I do? What do I do? What is happening? Help!_ were all the thoughts going through Hyūga Hinata's – _no_, Arashi Hime's – head, as she attempted to process the chaos of her current situation. Blinded and tied up, there was nothing she could do to help her friend and caretaker in a fight that she would usually be confident the burly man could win, but now she was not so sure.

Who was that man? He'd fooled her so thoroughly, he'd stolen a kiss from her, and she had let him, trusted him enough to invite him into her home, locked herself behind a closed door alone with a man she had just met. What was she thinking?!

No, she was blind but not a dunce, she knew how to judge a person's character from the briefest of interactions, her condition had forced her to learn that skill, lest she be taken advantage of on every turn she makes. When they had met in the plaza, he had meant her no harm, and the tale of his persecution had been no lie, she knew.

What had changed, then? He had turned against her after she had shown basic hospitality by serving him a cup of water_, water_, for crying out loud! Was he being suspicious of her intentions? You can't poison water; any alteration would clearly show in the taste or color of the beverage. One would have to be truly paranoid to be wary of just water…

Like someone far from home, running away from an imminent threat with nowhere to go and no allies to turn to, that sort of person? She reminds herself. He was so on edge, so high strung that even her innocent offering had been put under scrutiny. To lock oneself behind closed doors with a stranger, she hadn't been the only one to make that questionable choice. If she weren't as weak as she looks, he would've put himself in danger by trusting her as much as she had.

_He doesn't believe I'm blind, by putting a cloth over my eyes he has proven that much_. A spark of some odd feeling colors the apples of her cheeks at being regarded as a threat to be cautious of. _I look like this, but he didn't underestimate me_. Testing the well tied rope around her wrists she is convinced once more that there is some hidden strength the man was afraid that she might have, one that not even _she_ hopes could ever be there.

**Hanabi…**

He had called her Hanabi.

_She must have grown up to a strong resemblance. _She thinks.

The last she remembers of her little sister is a two-year-old baby, the new life that her mother had to give up her own in order to conceive.

A weak heart is what the doctor had said. _Just like mine. Always so weak._

Weak and useless, a porcelain doll. Blind, slim, short, mute and weak-hearted. The textbook definition of a damsel in distress. What else can she do if not wait for a knight to save her?

_No_. Not without at least trying.

There is no blade pressing against her neck or a gun's barrel at her temple. Both stranger's hands are on her, bare of any weapons. _He could choke me or twist my neck._

His hands cradling her head, that's the threat that's stopping the bigger man from making a move. _He can win in hand-to-hand combat if I just…_

Hinata was scared, confused, overwhelmed in every sense but resolute as she turned her head in his grasp and bit. _Hard._

A pained grunt and she was released. Then there were the telltale sounds of a struggle. Groans and gasps and kicks and punches and someone knocked over her chair.

She hit her head against the floor not hard enough to pass out, another body hit the floor and did not have the same luck. The fighting noises stop, heavy steps approach her.

She doesn't know who, she doesn't care too much. She tried, at least. For once, she didn't just wait to be saved.

* * *

"Yes… I understand… Thank you" after that last short reply, the black-haired male hangs up his phone, face and tone giving nothing away of what had been the other half of that curt conversation.

"What did they say?" The man's father encouraged, a perfect picture of calm and control much like his son was displaying right then. A bystander could believe he was asking about the weather, and not the faith of his youngest son, Uchiha Sasuke.

The young man, a prodigy in his own right, had gone missing in action 5 months ago, he'd been found comatose in a hospital in Oto, under the care of a well-known criminal organization. Yamanaka Ino had been deployed to stay by his side undercover and help him escape once he came to, but…

"Yamanaka Ino is dead" Uchiha Itachi announced, hiding his reaction as he watched out for his father's. Like father like son neither gave away any surprise, sadness or concern.

"And?" The old man urged coldly.

"His escape has been confirmed, but they don't have his current location" the young public prosecutor informs.

"So, MIA… again" the old man comments, clearly unamused with the situation. His relief had been great when Sasuke's retrieval mission had reported that he was found and recovering nicely after his three-man cell had been ambushed during a mission. Both of his teammates made it back, battered but safe and after their testimonies were processed there was no questioning it: Sasuke had been singled out.

"It would seem so" the son agrees.

"And there will be another deployment to find him" he stated more than asked, what was essentially a question.

"None at the moment. They seem to be waiting for him to make it back on his own two feet" Itachi relayed, expertly hiding his own displeasure with the news. God, how he _detested_ the shinobi organizations, not just Konoha's own, he believed strongly in the rampant corruption underlining all the elite organizations. He works in politics, his entire family tree does so and he's not ignorant to the irony of his distaste, but the questionable things his father's party allegedly does pale in comparison to all the dirt one could dig up on the higher ups of the organizations.

Not all that they do is law-abiding, he knows this, but proving it is another matter. His father had lost the battle against them, harming his reputation greatly and losing many supporters in his quest to dismantle the organization. But Itachi would stop at nothing, couldn't stop, not now that he had dragged his young brother into it.

Why the son of such a vocal Shinobi opposer would join the ranks and climb up was beyond him. A young boy rebelling against a controlling parent? Anyone's guess is as good as Itachi's. Sasuke never explained why he joined them, even as he let himself be convinced to betray them.

"I've done things I'm not proud of, but I know there'll be far worse if I dig for it" he had said, shaking his older brother's hand in agreement. The next thing he knows, he's been kidnapped.

Does Itachi suspect his brother was found out and set up by his own superiors? Yes. Can he prove it? …

Much like with politics, were corruption is so blatant and complaints are whispered in passing conversation, yet no one can move a finger to remove the wicked from their thrones.

These people know what they are doing, they leave no traces behind. Fugaku himself has never left any, difference being that when his father bends the rules, some wealthy businessman becomes just that much wealthier in exchange for campaign support or what-not. When the shinobi play dirty, people _die._

Itachi refuses to sit and watch any longer.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A warm, sunny day. How ironic.

After being missing for 5 years, Hyūga Hinata had been officially presumed dead and her case had been closed in the peak of summer 5 years ago, today. No matter how gloom he felt or how much he fought to hold the tears, there was never rained to complement the angst. Hinata's death anniversary was always a warm, sunny day.

Hyūga Neji was sweating underneath the heavy material of his black suit. He knelt over hot soil and felt the rays reflected at him through the pure white marble of her tombstone, bothering his eyes. But he would not budge.

To his right, several steps back stood his girlfriend, she bowed her head respectfully, but she wasn't mourning. Only he was.

Always the shy child, Hinata hadn't made any meaningful friendships. Her sister had been too young to even remember she wasn't always an only child and her father refused to grieve her death without tangible proof that she was truly gone for good. Denial, Neji calls it.

10 long years have passed, where could she be if not dead? He found it more painful to imagine what other crueler faiths she could have had.

Sold and used? Slaved? Raped? Lost somewhere with no means to come back? Brainwashed into siding with her once captors?

Selfishly, he hopes his beloved cousin is long gone and died in peace.

* * *

Oh! how the tables have turned, Sasuke wanted to snicker at the irony of his current position, tied to probably the same chair with what felt like the same rough rope and blinded with the same cloth. When he came to his senses, he used his hearing and smell to assess his surroundings as best he could, concluding by the distinctive scent of herbs and flowers that clung to the botanic worker that was Hinata, that he had not been moved.

Big calloused hands came to grab at his blind fold, removing it without much care, pulling at his hair and pushing his head around. He blinked exactly twice as he adjusted to the light before focusing on an open notebook that was being held in front of him with lines and dots all over the left-hand page. Morse code.

Was she hoping that he could understand it? Because he _does_, but that's a big assumption to make. Her pretty face was scrunched up in concern and the fingers holding up the note were squeezing it anxiously. _So, she does fear I won't be able to read it._

**I am Arashi Hime.**

**I was kidnapped at a very young age and don't remember much from my life as Hyūga Hinata. If you have business with her, I can't help you.**

**I understand why you lashed out at me and I won't resent you, please just leave us alone, there's nothing we can give you.**

"Now it's your turn" the big guy spoke up, giving his shoulder a slight shove. Sasuke let out a sigh and looked down, pondering for only seconds what was his best course of action, what was the best truth to lie ratio he could get away with telling the oblivious pair to his greatest benefit.

His objectives were 2:

Get back to Konoha. Safely.

Uncover who was behind the mission set up.

The first objective required him finding a place to stay for the time being, as he would only fail and possibly die if he attempted to make the long trip before fully recovering.

The second objective may or may not circle all the way back to his heritage and the threat the Uchiha pose against the shinobi organization. If that has anything to do with it, whowever is trying to screw them over now could have been the same organization responsible for Hinata's disappearance. It feels like a far reach as he thinks it, but too much of a coincidence if he scratches it out.

"I am a Konoha shinobi" he begins with the truth "I was taken during a mission and have been comatose since. I am weak and alone in a place I don't belong. I wasn't lying when I asked for your hospitality" he finishes, trying hard against his ego to sound pitiable to the couple.

» It seemed too good to be true, so I became paranoid and attacked you. I'm sorry" he apologizes with practiced sincerity.

"You were going to kill her! An apology isn't enough!" the man groans out angrily.

"I was bluffing" the younger admits, begrudgingly "I know who you are now, I would never hurt you" he speaks directly to her, hoping to reach her heart with a tender gaze that he belatedly remembers she can't see.

"How do you know her?" the big man – Juugo, was it? – continues to speak on her behalf.

"Everyone knows her. The lost first born of Hyūga Hiashi" he lies, omitting his own personal relation to her family.

"And you want us to believe all that?" the giant asked, untrusting.

"Is the truth. I just want a place to recover then I'll go home" he spoke, a perfect 50/50 split between a lie by omission and the bare faced truth. Juugo looked convinced to the expert eyes of the Uchiha, even as he tried to hide it. The shinobi's gaze was forced back to the woman in front of him as she dropped to her knees, startling him. Her traditional yukata rumpled up beneath her, but she was unfazed as she directed white unseen eyes to his face with unnerving accuracy. Her gaze was sad and pleading while she laid her dainty hands on his tight, poking and scratching.

He had missed the first few pokes before recognizing the pattern as more Morse code and began paying attention. Their eye contact was never broken as she silently communicated with him through touch alone. _Line, dot, pause, line, pause, line, dot pause… kaette ku-._

Black eyes widened with understanding even before she could finish the message.

_Please… take me home with you._


End file.
